Volume 6.33 | Aug 23

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STORY

Certain genetic changes are known to reduce the ability of an enzyme called tet methylcytosine dioxygenase 2, or TET2, to encourage stem cells to become mature blood cells, which eventually die, in many patients with certain kinds of leukemia, say the authors. Their new study found that vitamin C activated TET2 function in mice engineered to be deficient in the enzyme. [Press release from NYU Langone Health discussing online prepublication in Cell]
Press Release | Graphical Abstract | Abstract

In order to screen the effect of chemotherapeutics and biologics on resistant ovarian cancers with a personalized basis, investigators developed a 3D hanging drop spheroid platform. They initiated spheroids with primary ALDH+ CD133+ ovarian CSCs from different patient samples, and demonstrated that stem cell progeny from harvested spheroids was similar to the primary tumor. [Clin Cancer Res]
Abstract

Scientists showed that S100A4 is a novel biomarker of glioma stem cells (GSCs). Selective ablation of S100A4-expressing cells was sufficient to block tumor growth in vitro and in vivo. They also identified S100A4 as a critical regulator of GSC self-renewal in mouse and patient-derived glioma tumorspheres. [Cancer Res]
Abstract

The authors evaluated the anti-tumoral effect of metformin on gastric cancer in vitro and in vivo and determined whether this molecule could target the gastric CSCs. Metformin induced a cell cycle arrest, which decreased cell proliferation in the 2D cultures. In a 3D culture system, metformin decreased the number of tumorspheres, revealing its capacity to target the CSCs. [Eur J Cancer]
Abstract

Researchers studied the effects of c-Myc overexpression on CSCs and chemotherapy in African American (AA), and European American derived triple negative breast cancer cell line(s). Overexpression of c-Myc in AA derived MDA-MB-468 cells resulted in a significant increase in CSCs and with minimal changes in epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) compared to the control group. [PLoS One]
Full Article

The authors summarize the role of developmentally regulated signaling pathways that have been found to facilitate glioma growth and invasion. They discuss how the microenvironment and treatment-induced perturbations of these highly interconnected signaling networks can trigger a shift in cellular phenotype and tumor subtype. [Cell Mol Life Sci]
Full Article

Visit our
reviews
page to see a complete list of reviews in
the cancer stem cell research field.

Children’s National Health System is a member of a public-private research collective that was awarded up to $14.8 million from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to launch a data resource center for cancer researchers around the world in order to accelerate the discovery of novel treatments for childhood tumors. [Children’s National Health System]
Press Release

Researchers in the NCI-designated Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center have received $13,107,956 from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) for six new grants focused on evidence-based cancer prevention services, the recruitment of an established investigator, individual investigator and early translational research and core facility support. [Baylor College of Medicine]
Press Release

Senior female faculty at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies raise more than twice as much in National Institutes of Health funding for scientists working in their labs as their male counterparts, according to a 2016 internal report on “faculty issues” requested by leaders of the San Diego, California institution. Yet Salk leaders favored male scientists by granting them greater access to internal funds and other resources, the report implies, echoing gender discrimination lawsuits filed last month against the research center. [ScienceInsider]
Editorial

Over the past two years, more than 150 German libraries, universities, and research institutes have formed a united front trying to force academic publishers into a new way of doing business. Instead of buying subscriptions to specific journals, consortium members want to pay publishers an annual lump sum that covers publication costs of all papers whose first authors are at German institutions. Those papers would be freely available around the world; meanwhile, German institutions would receive access to all the publishers’ online content. [ScienceInsider]
Editorial